Preamplifier with DAC Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital Edition
Since it saw the light in 2017, the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital quickly achieved exceptional status in the DAC market and earned a great reputation among digital sound and PC audio enthusiasts, as a result of its remarkable ability to compete with much more expensive products. An achievement that can be attributed to a combination of factors such as synchronization clock exclusive custom-made, a Printed circuit board meticulously conceived with separate feeding lines, conversion chips D/A ESS configured in double differential mode and a designed digital filter to exhibit extraordinarily transparent transient response. More than five years later, the engineers at Pro-Ject Audio Design and John Westlake, creator of the original model, saw the opportunity to implement improvements and refinements key in it, the result being the new Pre Box S2 Digital Edition 2023.
There are several improvements introduced, affecting subsystems as relevant as the power supply, the audio synchronization clocks, the analog output stage and the headphone amplifier. In the first case, changes have been introduced in order to increase insulation against the noise of the USB power sockets of the PCs and achieve a wider output impedance and flat across the entire audio bandwidth. Regarding watches master synchronizationhave been redesigned to reduce phase noise and further refine the already spectacular jitter record. For its part, the new analog output stage, based on the SABRE9603Q “chip” from the renowned American firm ESS Technology, works with a higher Class A current in order to improve performance with low impedance headphones and longer cable lengths.
Also, the headphone amplifier is now more efficient in terms of power consumption, with a 12% reduction in current coming from the power supply. Other relevant features of the Pre Box S2 Digital Edition 2023, which now includes support for DAS512 and MQA, they are a Printed circuit board 4 layers, the use of polymer capacitors organic and mini-thin film resistors MELF and 7 (in addition to the one mentioned above) digital filtering curves selectable. Finally, let us point out that the new Pro-Ject is approved Roon Testedwhile designed and built in the European Union.
